Afghans fret over U.S. troop withdrawal: poll

With the U.S. and NATO forces wrapping up combat missions in Afghanistan in 2014, many Afghans remain pessimistic about what the future holds after the troops are gone, according to a Gallup poll released Wednesday.

Nearly four in 10 believe they will be worse off with the withdrawal of the majority of the U.S. and NATO forces, while fewer expect the situation to be the same, Gallup found.

The threat from the Taliban is a major factor, with 2014 being one of the deadliest years on record for civilians in the country, due to a surge of Taliban attacks.

Although Afghans are somewhat more positive now than they were in 2013, they largely expect this situation to get worse. Nearly half of Afghans believe the presence of the Taliban will increase when international forces depart, while half as many expect it to decrease, according to Gallup.

The Taliban ramped up attacks across Afghanistan in 2014, and fears of the group's resurgence are the strongest in the country's war-ravaged West, where two-thirds of Afghans believe their presence will increase.

Half of Afghans living in the Central region, which includes the country's capital, Kabul, also believe this, Gallup said.

Meanwhile, Afghans remain highly confident in their own military, which assumed full security responsibility on Jan. 1, 2015. The upward trend in Afghans' confidence in their military ended in 2014, but at 71 percent, the proportion who currently have faith in their military is still much higher than it was even a few years ago, the poll showed.

Although the Unites States will leave behind more than 10,000 troops for support and counterterrorism efforts, many Afghans likely agree with President Ashraf Ghani's call last week for the United States to "re-examine" its timetable for removing these forces by the end of 2016, Gallup found. Endi